The Royal House of Karedes books 5-8 by Natalie Anderson

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Synopsis

Two Crowns, Two Islands, One Legacy. Indulge in the exciting and passion conclusion to the Royal House of Karedes miniseries!

Many years ago the islands of Aristo and Calista were one kingdom--Adamas. But bitter family feuds and rivalry ripped the land in two and the infamous Stefani coronation diamond was split. Now the diamond is missing, and the search is underway to reunite the jewel...and Adamas!

As the hunt for the diamond continues, secrets and sins from the past are revealed and desire, love and passion war with royal duty. But who will discover in time that it is innocence of body and purity of heart that can unite the islands of Adamas once again?

The story concludes with these four novels: The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess by Chantelle Shaw; The Future King's Love-Child by Melanie Milburne; Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress by Natalie Anderson; and The Desert King's Housekeeper Bride by Carol Marinelli.

Chantelle discovered Mills & Boon romances in her local library as a teenager, and so began a lifelong love affair. She grew up in London and at school hated maths with a vengeance but loved English literature and history. After school she trained as a secretary but was hopelessly unorganized and spent most of her time daydreaming--the stories in her head were always much more exciting than shorthand and typing!After several dead-end jobs she despaired of ever finding a career she could enjoy, but after marrying her teenage sweetheart, Adrian, and having her first son, she found that she loved having babies--and so had another five! The family moved to Kent, to a tiny coastal village, and amid domestic chaos Chantelle finally began to put the stories in her head onto paper. In the days before home computers were commonplace this meant typing up manuscripts on a manual typewriter--a task made even more challenging when said typewriter was missing the letter p and the full-stop key!Those first books were duly rejected by Mills & Boon, although with encouraging comments and a meeting with the then senior editor to discuss Chantelle's work. But the demands of caring for a big family meant that Chantelle abandoned her writing and became a Scout leader, Brownie leader, playgroup chairwoman and a care assistant in a nursing home for the elderly--working night shifts.It wasn't until twenty years after sending off her first books that Chantelle began to write again, trying to fill the huge gap left in her life after the death of her adored mum, Gabrielle. This time around her third attempt was accepted, and to her amazement and absolute joy, her book, His Secretary Mistress, was published in 2006. Since then Chantelle has had another eleven books accepted and now enjoys what she regards as the perfect career as a full-time writer. She owes her success to her wonderfully supportive children, her incredibly patient husband and copious amounts of chocolate!
It was while she was supposed to be studying for her final high school exams that Melanie Milburne read her first Mills & Boon novel. She was 17and decided right then and there she would continue reading romance novels, and not only that, she would settle for no less than a tall dark handsome hero as her future husband. Well, she's not only still reading romance but writing it as well! And the tall dark handsome hero, you ask? She fell in love with him on the second date and was secretly engaged to him within six weeks. They moved to Scotland so he could work and study for his M.D. in surgery, and two sons later, arrived in Hobart, Tasmania--the jewel in the Australian crown. Once their boys were safely at school, Melanie went back to university and upgraded her teaching qualifications to a bachelor's and then master's degree. As part of her final assessment she conducted a tutorial in literary theory concentrating on the romance genre. She had the tutorial room decked out with hearts and champagne and roses and was standing at the front of the room reading a paragraph from the novel of a prominent Harlequin Mills & Boon author when the door suddenly burst open. The husband that she thought was safely tucked away in an operating theater doing what surgeons are supposed to do was actually standing there dressed in a tuxedo, his dark brown compelling gaze centered on her startled blue one. He strode purposefully across the room, hauled Melanie into his arms and kissed her deeply and passionately before setting her back down and leaving without a single word. The lecturer gave Melanie a High Distinction and her fellow students gave her jealous glares! You can see by now her pilgrimage into romance writing was more or less set! As well as writing full-time, Melanie is also a keen athlete. She enjoys long-distance running and is a nationally ranked top-10 master's swimmer in Australia, holding several individual state records. She learned to swim as an adult, so for anyone out there who thinks they can't do something--you can! Her motto is "Don't say I can't; say I CAN TRY." Melanie loves the pace and passion of the Harlequin Mills & Boon Presents series and hopes fans enjoy reading her stories as much as she loves writing them.
Natalie Anderson did the final revisions to her manuscript from a hospital bed. Just after having an emergency cesarean section (twins), her husband brought her the e-mail from her editor. The publisher liked the previous revisions Natalie had already made and there was a slot for publication--but she had to have the rewrites done in a week. "So there I was, hooked up to the IV, on massive painkillers, manually expressing every two hours while my babies were locked away in ICU," she says. But her husband thought that it was a good idea to go for it, so he brought in his brother's laptop and Natalie went to work. She delivered the revisions that Friday. By Monday she was back at home and finally got The Call and she heard the magic words in that English accent: "We want to buy your book."Natalie has been writing seriously for only about two years. But since she started she's written every night and every day of the week after her two children--and now her newborn twins--went to bed. She joined the eHarlequin.com Community boards in 2005, researching, participating and becoming addicted to the online reads. But Natalie says the best thing she found on the site was her critique partner, Jude.She has just sent her second book to her editor, and is anxiously waiting to hear more good news--and a longer deadline!
Carol Marinelli was born in England to Scottish parents, then emigrated to Australia, where there are loads of Scottish and English people who did exactly the same, so she's very at home there.She lives in the outer suburbs of Melbourne--pretty much in her car, driving her three children to their various commitments.Carol first tried to write for Harlequin Mills & Boon while doing her nursing training in London. It was merrily rejected and she was devastated. Rejection became a regular friend over the next few years and she amassed quite a collection. Still, as the years moved on the rejections became more detailed and instead of weeping over them and scorning them, she finally read them. Properly.In 2000 her first romance was accepted for the Medical Romance line and she lived happily ever after. Well, that's what she thought would happen but actually, no, it was then that the hard work really began!Once published she discovered the Romance Writers of Australia--it would, she now knows, have been far easier on this journey to have discovered them earlier. Attending her first conference she realized that she wasn't the only person who lived with a constant cinema happening in her head--in fact they were all THE SAME! Different but the same and many wonderful friendships were made.Carol now writes for both the Medical Romance and Presents lines and loves them both.One of her goals is to attend the Romance Writers of America conference with a few Romance Writers of Australia, which is a very nice goal to have.